Ontario councillor gets severe pay penalty as Pickering wants stronger recourse [Video]

A councillor in a southern Ontario city has been issued a 90-day pay suspension – the most severe penalty possible under current rules – after the municipality’s integrity commissioner found she has been demonstrating a continued pattern of “unacceptable behaviour” that risks hurting marginalized members of society.

It’s the latest in a series of penalties levelled against Coun. Lisa Robinson of Pickering, Ont., and a situation that the mayor has said underscores the need for changes to the province’s Municipal Act to allow stricter sanctions, up to the removal of a councillor from office.

Robinson, for her part, denied the integrity commissioner’s findings, called his report “full of lies” and accused the council of conducting a “witch hunt” against her.

The situation in Pickering, a city east of Toronto, is one that has been developing since last year.

The city’s mayor said he isn’t optimistic Robinson’s latest pay suspension – her third since last September – will have much of an …